Just three weeks after launching
his presidential exploratory committee on March 7, 1999, George W. Bush
had a quick $7.6 million in his war chest. This stunning jumpstart was
but the opening salvo of a fundraising campaign that smashed all existing
records. By the time his party selected him as its nominee in July 2000,
Bush had amassed a primary war chest of more than $110 million. Bush became
the first major-party nominee to spurn the public financing system for
presidential primaries--along with its accompanying voluntary fundraising
and spending limits.

Bush, who was not subject to
contribution limits as a Texas gubernatorial candidate, was limited under
federal law to no more than $1,000 from each individual donor to his 2000
presidential campaign. Each Pioneer legally circumvented this limit by
amassing bundles of checks from 100 or more donors to deliver at least
$100,000 to the Bush campaign. In honor of the 2002 “McCain-Feingold”
reform--which doubled individual contribution limits to $2,000--the 2004
Bush campaign created a new elite “Ranger” category for donors who
deliver $200,000 or more.

From the time that the Dallas
Morning News first reported its existence in May 1999, Bush’s Pioneer
network has been secretive. Under pressure from TPJ and the media in July
1999, Bush agreed to identify the first 115 Pioneers who had successfully
delivered bundles of at least $100,000. To this day, however, the Bush
campaign has not publicly disclosed the names of pledges who attempted
to raise $100,000 or more for his two presidential campaigns. Nor does it reveal the total amount
of money that it raised from this elite network. The then-director
of Bush’s Pioneer network, Jim Francis, said in mid-1999 that more than
400 individuals had taken the Pioneer pledge, collectively promising to
deliver at least $40 million. In 2000, Bush had 241 people raise at least $100,000 for his campaign accounting for a rock bottom total of $24.1 million out of the $110 million that he raised. Bush's 548 Pioneers and Rangers in 2004 raised a minimum of $76.9 million of his $286 million reelection war chest (this excludes the $75 million in public financing that he received).

Although political bundling
is not new, Bush’s 2000 Pioneer network was the most sophisticated operation
of its kind. The campaign assigned each Pioneer pledge a unique tracking
number and directed them to instruct their donors to jot this number on
their checks so that the campaign could monitor and credit each Pioneer’s
fundraising progress. Even in his 2004 reelection campaign, Bush only revealed the names and
home states of the Pioneers and Rangers who successfully met their bundling
targets. This report goes further by tracking the interests of Bush’s
elite donors and revealing what many of them got from the Bush administration.

Key findings include:

By the time of Bush's reelection in November 2004, 661 people had
become elite Bush contributors who raised at least $100,000 for Bush’s
campaign in 2000 or 2004. In fact, 127 donors raised $100,000 or more for
Bush twice--in 2000 and 2004.

The 548 contributors who raised
either $100,000 (Pioneers) or $200,000 (Rangers) for Bush’s reelection
more than doubled the Pioneers who financed the 2000 Bush campaign (which had yet to create
the Ranger category).

While Texas produced the most elite
Bush donors in both Bush campaigns, its share diminished the second time around. Texas produced
12 percent (66) of Bush’s 2004 elite donors, down from 27 percent (65)
of Bush’s 2000 elite. Florida was the next largest bastion of 2004 Bush
support, producing 55 elite donors (10 percent).

Pioneers and Rangers in 2004
(count = 548):

Bush’s 2004 Pioneer-Ranger network
is dominated by corporate executives and business owners, who account for
70 percent (384) of these 548 elite 2004 donors. Bush’s 2004 elite also
include 93 full- or part-time lobbyists and 38 people employed as elected
or appointed public officials.

Of the 661 elite donors from Bush’s
2000 and/or 2004 campaigns, 152 (23 percent) have had themselves or their
spouses appointed to Bush’s 2000 transition teams or to one or more federal
posts. These big-donor appointees include two cabinet secretaries, 27 ambassadors
and 48 transition team members.

104 companies that have employed
127 elite Bush donors received federal contracts worth more than $88 billion in
fiscal year 2002. Dominating this group is Bush Ranger George David, head of defense giant United Technologies Corp., which had $84 billion in federal contracts.

President Bush invited family members
of 27 elite donors to sleepovers at the White House or Camp David.

At least 156 elite Bush donors have been
involved in corporate scandals or helped run companies involved in them.

At least 83 elite donors either
have been involved in campaign-finance scandals or helped run companies
involved in them.